Torrent description

This is a select collection of the works of the neo-Reichian psychologist
Dr. Charles R. Kelley.

In the beginning, pre-civilization it seems and definitely before humans had
developed higher thought processes, there was Sigmund Freud. The guy has producedcopious volumes of mostly BS that many college students in pastdecades have been forced to endure. As to Freud's credibility as a guide for others to live by, I have yet to see any photos of the guy where he wasn't looking incredibly depressed and sad. I can't imagine a worse person to listen to for the meaning of life, love, or to find the joy of living. Next there was Wilhelm Reich, a student of Freud.

Reich viewed Freud as being neurotic and the two men hardly got along. Reich
discovered the connection between blocked sexuality and feelings, and the "muscular armoring" of modern "civilized" humans. Reich noted the tight jaws, shoulders, pelvises, the restricted breathing patterns, and the tension around the eyes of the patients he saw. Reich devised some techniques to help relieve the tensions, bring emotion, sexual feelings,and life back into the people who came to him. Reich also coined the phrase "genital character" to denote someone who was completely unblocked and sexually open. It turned out to be largely a "pie in the sky" ideal to be striven for, as it was an extremely elusive goal for his patients to reach.

Reich had a number of better known students, including Alexander Lowen
(Bioenergetics), John Pierrakos, Ellsworth Baker (Man in the Trap), and Charles R. Kelley. While Lowen had a slicker PR approach to marketing his therapy with flashier titles and hot babes on the covers of his books, Kelley almost had a loathing for all forms of showy marketing. Despite his major contributions to the field of body-mind psychology, Kelley has been largely sidelined because of this by his more PR savvy peers.

Charles Kelley's version of bodywork had several points of note. He studied the Bates Method of vision improvement under its founder William Bates, and tried successfully to bring Reichian psychology and Bates techniques together. Kelley noted the correlation between blocked emotion and myopia and hyperopia, and also noted that blocked fear, and sometimes blocked sadness, can lead to myopia (near-sightedness). He also observed that hyperopia (far-sightedness) corresponded with blocked anger. There has been more of an emphasis on dealing with vision and the "eye segment" with Kelley's bodywork than with the other bodywork modalities because of this.

Another of Kelley's views that differed from the other neo-Reichians, was his
egalitarian view of personal growth work. There was none of the "top down, I'm
enlightned and your a mere peasant" view that has characterized many psychologists from the inception of the field. Kelley viewed the muscular armor as having a purpose for the person doing the armoring, and he viewed it a matter or choice for that person to either let go and experience fully the feelings inside when appropriate, or to block those feelings in order to apply purpose and to accomplish something. Also, he did not view the unblocking of emotion in someone to have a finite end--or a beginning. He viewed the blocking of emotion, or the construction of the armor, as an ongoing process necessary for survival and for the full range of choices in life. Instead of the term "psychotherapy", he considered the process of opening to one's emotions more of a matter of education and choice. Again, the term "psychotherapy" to him connoted a sickness or mental illness, rather than considering the whole affair of blocking or unblocking emotion to be one of personal choice. Kelley's philosophy extended to his marketing of his books and teachings, and he didn't like the idea of slickly selling his views, books, or his teachings to those who might benefit from them. Also, unlike others under the Reichian umbrella, Kelley didn't share in the medical elitist view of bodywork that Reich and Lowen promulgated. Kelley was more willing to share in the specifics of the emotional release work than were the others. Included in the titles in this set is "Freeing the Feelings" that describes in a fair amount of detail some of the blockages to specific emotion that won't be to my knowledge found in the writings of any other Reichian psychologist. Again, Kelley didn't have the "I am enlightened my child, and some day you may be wise and not nuts like me" that has been prevalent in the personal growth field from Osho and Hubbard, to Reich and Janov. Kelley even shared his own personal emotional release work with his "students." He made a deliberate attempt to be seen as an equal by the people who worked with him and not a "guru" or a saint. Many people crave charismatic leaders to follow, and in their leaders find personal strength and glory by identifying with them. We see this throughout human history--in wars, politics, religion, sports and even in marriage and relationships. Kelley didn't want to cater to this human desire. He was just who he was.

While the articles included in this torrent do not cover everything Charles Kelley has ever written, it does give the reader a good basic understanding of his neo-Reichian psychology and goes into some of his ideas about "Radix", his term for life force or life energy. There are other works of his, "A New Method of Weather Control", "Life Force" (his last book before his death), and some materials only available to those studying his work on feeling and purpose through the classes offered through the following websites. The first site listed is maintained by Kelley's wife Erica and it disseminates many of Kelley-Radix writings.

http://www.kelley-radix.org

http://www.radixaustralia.com.au

http://www.radix.org

This collection of torrents is an excellent resource for those looking for some good basic understanding of body oriented psychology, without the pages of filler that typically characterizes some of the works of Reich and Lowen. "Freeing the
Feelings" is not light reading, but in a few pages does a very good job of
summarizing the last 60 years of body oriented psychology. Whether a person's into simple massage work, Rolfing, or just wants a deeper understanding of what is going on inside of them, Kelley's works are invaluable. For anyone in the helping professions--chiropractors, new-age healers, to progressive psychologists and
physicians--the information contained in these writings can be of immense benefit,and at the minimum very interesting.

Files:

1.What is Orgone Energy
A summary of the discovery of orgone energy by Wilhelm Reich, with a listing of its manifestations, properties and applications. Resistance to acceptance of the concept is interpreted by the author as a split between mysticism and mechanism.

2.What is the Matter with Man
Review of Reich’s observations about the muscular armor and Kelley’s subsequent insights into its positive value as the mechanism of the human will. The dawn of purpose and the mass distortions it can create in society.

3.Education in Feeling and Purpose
Dr. Kelley's seminal work concerning muscular armor, programs in "Feeling" and "Self-Direction/Purpose" with examples, and methodology for finding balance between the two.

4.Freeing the Feelings
This is an updated combination of basic conceptual information about the radix, pulsation, charge and discharge, and its application in mobilizing the armor in thecharacterological pairs of pain/pleasure, fear/trust and anger/love. First presented by Kelley in “Opening the Feelings” 1975.

5.New Techniques of Vision Improvement
Synthesizing the work of Wilhelm Reich and of the ophthalmologist William H. Bates was a revolutionary concept in 1971 and, along with the techniques described here, remains valid today. Detailed work with the ocular segment is a unique feature of Radix bodywork.

6.Radix Charge of Living Places
Describes radix overcharge and its effect on the environment and on human life; gives tips for handling radix overcharge including which types of environments are most favorable to productive charge levels.

7.Interview with Sandy Shore 1998
Transcription of an Interview of Charles (Chuck) Kelley by Sandy Shore of Somatics Coalition, Portland, Oregon, February 1998. Informal summary of Radix history and programs, description of sessions, how Kelley/Radix helps under- as well as over-armored people, and tips for finding meaning in life.

8.Life and Death of Wilhelm Reich
This perspective of Reich was written in 1962, only five years after his death. It summarizes Reich's life, his work, and his struggles with the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) culminating in his imprisonment and death.

9.About Reich and Radix, A Memoir
Autobiographical account of Kelley’s relationship with Reich during Reich’s last years, and the evolution of his thinking away from the medical model of orgonomy to the development of Radix Education.

Personal note: The Radix teachers I have personally met I found open, warm and in general fairly cool. However, I doubt that all that are around are people that I would want to associate with. As with all teacher-student situations, it is highly advisable to go with your gut feelings about people before you chose them as your teachers. In work of this nature, having an emotionally nourishing person to act as a guide is extremely important and one who you are comfortable with in expressing the full range of deeper emotions.